A look at Georgia Tech’s running backs

I felt bad leaving you without a blog for two weeks, so I cobbled this together, using colleague Tim Tucker’s capsule on the Georgia blog. A few more will be coming.

THE RUNNING BACKS

  • Returning starters: Anthony Allen, Embry Peeples, Roddy Jones.
  • Others to watch: So many to choose from here: Many new A-backs will see time this season including Orwin Smith (will see more time here than he did last year), Robby Godhigh and B.J. Bostic notably, along with returning vets such as Marcus Wright. At B-back, Lucas Cox was a bowling ball during the spring practice, and Richard Watson looked tough to bring down as well.
  • Key losses: The big one was B-back Jonathan Dwyer, who rushed for 1,395 yards last season and is now with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.
  • Key fact: The Jackets averaged 5.2 yards per attempt rushing last season. As coach Paul Johnson says, if he wants 5 yards he’ll just run the ball.
  • Key fact II: The Jackets had 36 runs of least 20 yards last season.
  • Key question: Will Allen be able to fill Dwyer’s role as a between-the-tackles runner? He’s as big as Dwyer, and his speed is such that he should be able to get extra yards when he gets into the secondary.
  • Key question 2: With Allen now at B-back, who will be the home-run threat coming off the edge on option and/or pitch plays? Jones had three 20+ runs last season and Marcus Wright had one.
  • Key question 3: Will the A-backs block better than they did last season? Johnson recently said the team left a lot of yards on the ground and said the A-backs need to hold their blocks better on the perimeter.
  • Outlook: Should be fine. Johnson has said he’ll be surprised if Allen doesn’t get 1,000 yards this season.
  • Your turn: What say you about the running backs?

For a look at the offensive line, go here

Follow me on twitter @ajcgatech

300 comments Add your comment

kb/sec

June 19th, 2010
2:54 pm

Boise, Idaho Techs home away from home. Tech should talk when it wins a bowl game.
CPJ gimmick offense has scored 10 points in 2 bowl games.

messin with sasquatch

June 19th, 2010
3:29 pm

dogbois loving that trip to shreveport – the weedeater bowl its called? looking like another non-bcs bowl next year for the bois. y’all may get to see the smurf turf – your boi cmr is about out of gas…….

ATTENTION DOG FANS!

June 19th, 2010
4:28 pm

UGA ME LO MAMA,
AHHH EN TU CARA DOG!

POAD

June 19th, 2010
4:40 pm

I just want to see Cox get some more carries this year to. He is more Fullback in the NFL, but at Tech he will tear-up the inside and soften them up for Allen to bust one.

GT Fan...

June 19th, 2010
5:03 pm

Hey Puke ….
How many yards rushing did PJ’s gimmick offense get against the U in 2008??? In case you forgot it was 472. I’m GT’s worried about getting crushed by the U this season.

One Tech Fan …..
If you actually think GT gets the same quality of talent as Ga Southern, Navy, and Hawaii you need to wise up – it just ain’t happening.
Two Hundred Twenty (220) WINS, Ninety Seven (97) LOSSES, and Three (3) TIES. I’d say PJ’s gimmick system seems to win more games than it loses. Amazing so many people chose to see another way.
FACT … PJ knows how to W-I-N.

messin with.............

June 19th, 2010
6:09 pm

dogboi’s – i make a really good fake id if any of your underage players needs one.

one tech fan not drinking the kool aid

June 19th, 2010
6:37 pm

CPJ isnt recruiting the quality talent Tech needs to compete on the this level. Yes we get better talent, but the schedule is a bit tougher.

Lets see...

June 19th, 2010
8:34 pm

Big D Dawg never went to college… I place $10K on that bet…

Tech will surprise this year.. bet on that…

Tech will beat the Dawgs in Athens this year.. and it wont be pretty…

Puke Colored Gold

June 19th, 2010
8:38 pm

Da U

Thats all I have to say

time will tell

June 19th, 2010
10:46 pm

I agree about the pot calling the kettle black..Both sides need to tend to their own bidness.

Big D Dawg

June 19th, 2010
11:31 pm

I suck at life

Jesse

June 20th, 2010
10:32 am

Georgia fans are arrogant for no reason. Richt did well in the SEC before REAL coaches like Saban and Meyer came into town. Heck, I don’t think they beat Auburn this year! UGA, you are IRRELEVANT! Get over yourselves and stop being so arrogant!

ATL XMAN

June 20th, 2010
10:57 am

gt fan..thats exactly what im sayng. other guys are seeing it too. just look at the roster of those schools and look at the height and weight of the off linemen of those teams. then look at a techs linemen and running backs for that matter. almost the same exact make up. way too small for the big boys of div 1 football. pj got by with gailys pro players but now they are all gone except 1 and another one that played at another div 1a school in allen. the other guys are pj guys and they should be playing at elon or ga southern or other div 1aa schools. guys like cox will get crushed back there. he will not soften any defense for allen.

ATL XMAN

June 20th, 2010
11:01 am

jesse richt has beaen saben and meyers and will do it again this year, this year UGA will havet he upperclassmen in the trenches unlike the past two years where both FLA and ALA took advantage of UGA youth on line. now the tide has turn. UGA has just as much talent as FLA and ALA now its all abut experience which UGA will have this year and the next

ATL XMAN

June 20th, 2010
11:03 am

how will tech beat UGA this year or in the next 5 years..please tell me where you guys are better than UGA. the talent is not there and the high school offense wont do jack with div 1aa players running it now against the big boys of college football. gailys players are gone and playing in the pros.

GT Fan...

June 20th, 2010
12:04 pm

ATL XMAN, PUKE, One Tech Fan …. If it’s all about the players, and not the system or coaching, then why is PJ winning with players that Gailey couldn’t win with??

So, after this season and two more, when PJ’s record is showing 45-50 wins in 5 years at GT, are you guys still going to say PJ’s gimmick offense can’t win, and everyone has caught-up to it?

Again, go back and look at PJ’s career. He’s had 2 stops at GA Southern, and 2 stops at Navy. In both instances at both places the teams won more games with PJ’s system, and even more with his as HC. Those are FACTS, not opinions fellas.

GT had a tougher Road schedule in 2008 than it appears the road schedule will be in 2010. The Jackets were 9-3 in their first season with PJ’s system & leadership. They got better in 2009 after many people, who share you all’s opinion that PJ’s system has been figured-out, project 5-7 losses for the team. PJ & the Jackets will be fine in 2010 – bet on it!

one tech fan not drinking the kool aid

June 20th, 2010
2:49 pm

One could argue tech would’ve been better under Gailey the past 2 years, Gailey only had 1 year with his best recruiting class, had to deal with and had just gotten past Probation and flunkgate.Which impact player has CPJ recruited? CPJ timing coming to tech was perfect, he entered when the ACC was at its worst, had schedules that were very favorable, and inherited talent from Chan.This system would be eaten alive if in any other BCS conference(except perhaps the Big east). Please don’t give me the we beat Vandy and Miss. State. and UGA once. We beat a UGA team in 2008 that was decimated by injuries. This offense has scored 10 points in bowl games, been embarrassed by LSU,
Iowa, the worst UGA team in a decade, (out coached by none other than Willie M.) Tech future will remain bright only as long as the ACC is weak, CPJ recruiting thus far has been weak.

St. Clarrkston

June 20th, 2010
3:21 pm

Best rb in this state is Waushan Ealy!

Yung Yella Jacket

June 20th, 2010
5:36 pm

To all the georgia fans: Shut up and go get a job. Stop taking up space and trashing up this world…
or better yet…. COMMENT ON YOUR BLOG…. you just wanna tear down Georgia Tech because you’re not confident enough in your own team….

Yung Yella Jacket

June 20th, 2010
5:42 pm

also… the whole defensive end thing… georgia has no room to talk about thugs. you guys have plenty of em. and please don’t act like you have not driven 90 mph…. sthu

superDawg

June 20th, 2010
5:45 pm

Our team owns your nerd team being confident has nothing to do with it.Live long and realize that the DAWGS are just another loss on your schedule yung nerd.

superDawg

June 20th, 2010
5:48 pm

Just ask your grandfather.

Yung Yella Jacket

June 20th, 2010
5:54 pm

Will do sherlock… at least ill be employed and you will not… sucks dog. I rather be a yellow jacket and have my dignity and not be a dog and be a redneck trashed idiot. go pick up some trash on the side of the road. you might find some of your friends

Yung Yella Jacket

June 20th, 2010
5:56 pm

oh and my grandfather went to tech when we won the national championship…. so uhhhh i’m not sure what to say to that whole asking my grandfather thing… but ill ask him anyways superqueer

joke bowl?

June 20th, 2010
6:07 pm

Have you seen what bowl games Ga Tech has played in the last couple years?
2008 Chick-fil-A
2007 Humanitarian
2006 Gator
2005 Emerald
2004 Champs Sports
2003 Humanitarian
2002 Silicon Valley
2001 Seattle

– I don’t think yall have room to talk about playing in a joke bowl. At least UGA wins the bowls they go to.

Yung Yella Jacket

June 20th, 2010
6:07 pm

Oh dang also my dad went to tech when we won the natl championship… not looking good… my dad owns his own company. He likes hiring georgia grads… they work long hours and don’t cost him much! ha! its great to be a jacket!

30>24 60>39

June 20th, 2010
7:17 pm

funny….no trash talk was coming from tech fans when they were in the middle of a 7 game losing streak to the Dawgs. they won ONE. did you count it well. ONE game and all of a sudden they own UGA. UGA is NOTHING. UGA cant even COMPETE with gt. then UGA stomps gt in Atlanta and it tones down slightly. another two or three wins in a row and it will all be gone fully

bye little bro

Ghost of UGA VII

June 20th, 2010
8:23 pm

FOUR national championships to just one little ole one for the Dogs. Remember Tech students, I think the University of Georgia puts out quality kids with a great education, I hire one everytime I need a paint job or my yard mowed. The best part is none of them have good enough math skills for figure out how much I owe them. (laughing) bark, bark!!

Get over it, you guys are from a second rate football team and University.

Always better here than In Athens!

Big Dog Dawg

June 21st, 2010
6:42 am

Now, let’s get this straight. All tech fans do is raise hell about UGA players getting arrested…

and, over the last week BOTH of your Defensive Ends are

ARRESTED

1 for beating up a little girlee

And, the tech fans what ?

Run in here whining that it’s the UGA players getting arrested.

Then, why have Georgia tek’s Defensive Ends been arrested and no 1 of them was not last November, both in the last week

1 DE for GA tek DRIVING on suspended license no license 91 mph
1 DE for GA tek beating up a little girlee

Why do you keep talking about

GOING to a Major Bowl while we went to Shreveport ?

LOST

Georgia tek LOST

Georgia tek has not won a Major Bowl Game in over 56 years now

and, counting.

Let’s see 30-24.

8 of the 9 games Coach Richt has won vs Georgia tek

So, you come running in here saying WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR.

I didn’t go to college ? Oh, really.

If that were the case, you are being taken to the cleaners by a non-college boy.

Paul Johnson has not recruited well at all, about # 50 in the nation and yet the state he is in has the 4th most high school football players who go on to play in the NFL.

GTfan, if Paul Johnson has 45-50 wins after 5 years at Georgia tek, in 14-game seasons nowadays, that would seriously

SUCK.

Starring Peter Graves as Captain Clarence Over

June 21st, 2010
8:04 am

Before you UGAG idiots run off at the mouth about Robert Hall, here’s 2 names for you. Randy McMichael & Jermaine Phillips. They were both arrested for smacking women around, so STFU!!!

Starring Peter Graves as Captain Clarence Over

June 21st, 2010
8:09 am

Hey puke colored gold: just because the U beat Tech last year doesn’t mean it will happen this year. Before the U won last year, Tech had won 4 in a row. BTW, worry about filling up your stadium, Tech will be fine.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

June 21st, 2010
9:22 am

should be interesting for GT’s backfield. A lot of question marks back there. I think Dwyer will fit into Pittsburgh’s backfield great. Should be a good RB there. Good luck until November.

Fillin' up @ Juniors

June 21st, 2010
9:40 am

Big Dog Dawg,
“and, over the last week BOTH of your Defensive Ends are

ARRESTED”

1) Both? We have more than 2, so using “both” would imply only if we only have 2.

2) One was a first round draft pick of the Tennessee Titans, and is no longer at Tech, the other is a back-up…

3) It’s Tech, not Tek…just because you can’t spell your own mascot’s word right (Dawg? seriously) Doesn’t mean you are allowed to screw up ours.

4) Periods end sentences not the return key…

5) Recruiting classes are ranked by number of recruits times “quality”, last year he only brought in 17 kids…so the ranking will be low, but the quality was an improvement year over year averaging 3.34 stars by Rivals. UGA averaged something like 3.7. Not that far off.

6)”Run in here whining ” You are on the Tech blog…who is on whose site? You are on our site…Sounds to me as if you have a complex about Tech, spending so much time on their blogs…I bet when you think about tech, you get a cold sweat and have to go to the bathroom don’t you?

7) “I didn’t go to college ?” …You didn’t deny it, and it explains everything…

ps there is no need for a space between the last word of a sentence and its puncuation.

Fillin' up @ Juniors

June 21st, 2010
9:42 am

Big Dog Dawg,
“and, over the last week BOTH of your Defensive Ends are

ARRESTED”

8) I almost forgot,

“and, over the last week BOTH of your Defensive Ends WHERE

ARRESTED”

It happened in the past thus it is past tense. “Are” is present tense, and since they are not currently being arrested you must use past tense…

Honestly, going to college would have helped you, its hard to make convincing arguments when you come across foolish and un-educated.

We_Run_This_Country

June 21st, 2010
10:26 am

I think you mean WERE…..not WHERE.

Houdawg

June 21st, 2010
11:44 am

The reason a Dawg fan comes here to speak of the arrest(s) at Tech is simple.

Many of you rail on the UGA site at the mention or potential of any type arrest of a player. Now you bitch & moan & tell others to go away when it’s your guy(s). Comical ……..

JB

June 21st, 2010
12:32 pm

From a Dawgs view point…..Tech will probably not have a better ( or as good) record this year because of the Schedule, not the Tech team……The ACC will have some good teams this year. 8-4 maybe 9-3 sounds about right.

POAD

June 21st, 2010
1:10 pm

JasonG

June 21st, 2010
2:08 pm

Um, Morgan isn’t on the team anymore… he plays for the Titans because he was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft… Who from UGA went in the 1st round? Looks like the NFL is just another place that it’s easier to get a job with GT on your resume, now here’s the money for the pizza and please get off my doorstep thanks!

dawgfan

June 21st, 2010
2:50 pm

Once again, Tech fans are finding it difficult to wrap their small little one dimensional minds around something. It seems that unless we’re talking calculus or six sigma, Techies are absolutely clueless.

Our point is not that your football players get arrested Tech fans. Our point is that YOU are big fat whiny sore loser hypocrites of the worst kind. You run your fat mouths incessantly about UGA player arrests and then going running to mommy when we return the favor. You are absolutely pathetic.
By the way, why was Morgan’s license suspended Techies? To hear you tell it all of your football players will be piloting spaceships to Mars one day. I would think that driving a car would be no problemo for the geniuses on your football team.

Tech fans are a total disgrace. Thanks.

Dirty Jacket

June 21st, 2010
5:10 pm

Oh Baby can’t wait for some GT football this year. I love listening to the gaggers run their mouths. Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Dirty Jacket

June 21st, 2010
5:17 pm

In all fairness, I know I haggle my fiance and my brother every time a UGA player is arrested so it’s just fair and sport to get it right back. Bottom line is, GT or UGA, it’s not like either of us have future Noble prize winners playing football for us. I do think you’d be more likely to find a few better students on the GT side simply because a stronger academic component goes into the recruiting process but that’s more so the exception rather than the average student-athlete. To call Derrick Morgan out for getting a ticket for speeding 91 on I-75 (you will get trucked over if you’re not going 85-95mph on that stretch of freeway)…is kind of stretching the heckling. I guess he didn’t have a license so that I guess gives you the in for heckling, fair enough. In the end…one thing matters more than anything else –> GO JACKETS!

JW

June 21st, 2010
5:29 pm

dawgfan

You’re missing the point. No one can argue on either side of the debate that these constants aren’t true:

1. UGA football players generally are less disciplined than GT football players off of the field, as evidenced by the abundance of arrests and suspensions that CMR (who is a good man btw) must deal with every off season.

2. Academically, GT generally is just a better overall institute of higher learning with much higher standards than UGA. Thus, your fallacious suggestion that GT fans believe that all of GT “football players will be piloting spaceships to Mars one day” is baseless. The crux of the matter is that generally, GT students overall (athlete or not) are better educated and will become more successful than UGA students (athlete or not); again, generally speaking

These are constants that generally are true in the majority of cases when you compare any UGA student to a GT student.

I won’t get into the childish practice of name calling you like have done, but rather I will present you with this fact…

There is no academic discipline that UGA and GT both compete in which UGA has a higher ranking/mark/success rate than GT.

So….while we don’t feel that Joshua Nesbit will be in command of any space missions at any point in the future, it is reasonable to assume that the academic environment that Joshua competes within is far more strenuous than that of the majority of UGA football players and this environment will lend itself to the higher probability that Joshua will be more successful and better educated than the majority of UGA’s football players.

Stinger

June 21st, 2010
5:59 pm

We have 10 running backs better than any of UGAY’s.

Ghost of UGA VII

June 21st, 2010
6:12 pm

THE END OF THE ARGUMENT:

Ghost of UGA VII

June 21st, 2010
6:15 pm

UGA students and football players can’t get a ticket for spending at 91 miles per hour, their tractors and pickups want go that fast. END OF ARGUMENT!!!

Better anywhere than in Athens!

stinger you are 12 yearsold or an old fool

June 21st, 2010
10:11 pm

which is it?

stinger or you know nothing about football

June 21st, 2010
10:11 pm

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[...] For a look at the running backs, go here [...]

SAINT SIMON

June 30th, 2010
8:25 am

UGA 30 – GT 24!!!!!!!!!!!!
UGA 73 – GT 66!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!!!!!!!!

WE RUN THIS STATE!!!!!!!!!!!!